Roseville Gratiot Cruise expands route, adds events

Vintage vehicles down Gratiot Avenue during the 2013 Roseville Gratiot Cruise. Event organizers this year have expanded the route to go from 13 Mile to 10 Mile roads. MACOMB DAILY FILE PHOTO BY DAVID DALTON

After last year’s inaugural Roseville Gratiot Cruise, organizers vowed to expand the event for 2014.

They are now making good on that promise.

This year’s cruise will have an extra mile tacked onto the route, new sponsors and new activities as the event begins to grow and make its mark on the classic car cruise calendar.

“We definitely have upped our game,” Amelia Hinds, spokeswoman for the Roseville Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit that hosts the cruise.

Advertisement

Supporters had lobbied city officials to allow an organized cruise on Gratiot Avenue for close to a decade. Council members had been reluctant, considering the trouble associated with teens cruising the avenue in years past but then relented and approved the event.

For their first cruise, vintage vehicles cruised Gratiot from 11 Mile to 13 Mile roads. Attendance was impacted by unseasonably cool temperatures and cloudy skies. The event attracted about 270 registered vehicles and 5,000 spectators.

This year’s cruise -- which will run noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 26 -- will see the route extend southward to 10 Mile Road, where the turnaround will be near Grady’s Lounge.

Melanie Rauch, a manager at Grady’s, said owners of the longtime establishment support the cruise and are active on the foundation. She said a number of business owners south of 11 Mile Road wanted to be involved in this year’s event after missing out on the fun in 2013.

“From the feedback we’ve had, everyone enjoyed the first year and now we’re making the cruise bigger and better than last year,” Rauch said.

Some of the event highlights include:

• Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Mayor John Chirkun have been named as co-grand marshals

• Cruise headquarters has moved over the City Hall parking annex

• The official kick-off VIP parade will enter Gratiot Avenue from Common Road

• New activities are in the works including a scavenger hunt, veterans returning home car show and others

• A new presenting sponsor is on board in Christian Financial Credit Union

The Roseville Heritage Foundation plans to make additional announcements following their next meeting Wednesday afternoon. For more information on the cruise or sponsorships, visit rosevillegratiotcruise.com or email ahinds@rosevillegratiotcruise.com.